santa gone high tech...

so a co-worker was telling me that she took her son to the mall to see santa last weekend. apparently, you no longer line your child up to see the jolly old fella. they give you a pager, and will buzz you when it's your turn.

what?! part of that whole mall santa culture is for the kids to learn to stand in line, and take their turn, and whine, cry, kick, and embarrass their parents! now the kids will not learn delayed gratification....oh wait, adults invented pagers....okay, so now the grown-ups won't learn delayed gratification! (i blame it all on the invention of the microwave.)

living and dying...

i went to SF to see my grandfather, who had a stroke...i went because the doctors say he was probably not going to "make it." i got there in time to see him one last time. spent a little over an hour with him, talked to him, was struck by how lonely it was in that ICU room....people visiting, yet no one really was THERE with him. i suppose people have a hard time facing death, not knowing what to do, how to respond, etc. my therapist mode kicked in and i felt like i needed our interaction to have some sort of meaning.

after seeing him, i prayed that God would be merciful and take him quickly. he died the next morning. i was thankful i got to spend some last moments with him.

jury duty...

i got summoned for jury duty....AGAIN. the last time i went i ended up loosing a brand new christmas gift (a ring) from my sister, while gaining a $9 check, 7 of which went to the parking garage. i lost a day, a ring, and my faith in the justice system of america.

my trip in summary...

-beijing was exhausting,
-the great wall was....great,
-tibet was amazing! (sans the throwing up.)
-everest was breath-taking,
-kathmandu was bloody,
-shanghai was fast.


what a trip.

pissing and fishing...

our tour guide in Nepal:
*VERY enthusiastic
*had a hard time pronouncing his " F's", and they come out sounding like "P's"
*enjoyed singing (complete with Bollywood style gestures) for us

there were a lot of singing in the vehicle when we were traveling in from the China-Nepal border to Kathmandu. as we passed this great river, he enthusiastically announced that he was going to sing a traditional song about a boy going fishing for a girl. as he was singing, we were all confused, but also amused (actually, really trying hard not to laugh). we kept hearing "pissing at the river"....finally he looks at Amy, and tries to explain the song, thinking she thought he was singing "kissing," rather than "fishing"....right.

no one corrected him.

top of the world!

we finally got to the base camp of Mt. Everest!

our tour description about reaching base camp reads:

All the hardship you bear along the way makes sense at this while.

ahhh...yes, of course that was my initial thought as i look at Everest....

it's pretty high there, over 17,500 feet. we took a horse cart up to the camp. on the way we saw hard core mountain bikers cycling up there.....i don't know what's more inspiring. the sight of Everest or these bikers! i'm having problems with breathing just sitting and doing nothing, while these crazy bikers are peddling themselves, and their gears up the mountain!

i'm not going to complain at my spinning class anymore when i get home.

off-roading in Tibet...

over the river and through the woods....well, no woods, mostly just mountainous terrain, and yes, definitely rivers. it was an adventure driving from Shigatse to Shegar. we had to forge new paths as we went because the one road was being fixed or whatever caused it to be impassable. i now have a better appreciation for paved roads, and Landrovers.

altitude sickness...

our arrival to Lhasa was not a fun one. i suppose flying in from sea level to 9000 feet can be why. i puked 3 times that night. it's sad, in a comical way, when your travel companion and you are taking turns emptying your stomachs over a squat toilet . thank God it only lasted a night. i was fine the next day....in time to climb up to the Potala Palace - no way was i going to miss that! Even if the monks have to clean up my vomit, i was going.

saving face....

so i don't know why i thought the great wall of china is just this long wall with flat walking surface. piece of cake! not quite.

as we were walking along a small path on the outside of the wall for a bit, we witnessed this interaction:

Caucasian woman (CW): "I would like to get into the entertainment industry....."
Chinese man (CM): "Yeah? What have you done before?"
CW: "Oh, this and that....." (she tends to talk on and on)
CM: "That's very interesting, I wish you success!"
CW: "Yes, it was nice chatting with you."
CM starts to turn around to walk away, and "AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" (Very loud, painful scream, and possibly cursing - he walks right into a low hanging tree branch, and smacks his face right into it.) He bends over, obviously in extreme pain.
CW: "Are you alright?!"
CM (in a VERY pleasant manner): "It's nothing, I'm fine."

Beijing....

we made it! after a stop in Detroit (where i insisted on riding the monorail from one side of the terminal to the other, just because we can), and in Tokyo (where i was mesmerized by the sumo wrestling on Japanese TV).

airports can be fun when you don't have to stay there too long, or if you are easily entertained.

i had to instruct the taxi driver (in Chinese) how to get to our hotel after he got lost.....me, who's never been to BJ before. hum....i hope this is not a sign of what's to come for the trip.

travel light or bust...

i found out recently that i need to bring a sleeping bag to the tibet trip. i really don't want to bring it just for ONE night. okay, granted, it'll be below freezing and windy at the base camp of mt. everest, but it's not like we're actually sleeping outside or in a tent.....at least i hope not.

amy and i decided we will wear every single article of clothing we have to sleep that night; we'll mummify ourselves.

"italian" grapes...

so i went home last weekend and my mom fed me these crazy mutant grapes she got from chinatown. they are huge, very round, with really tough skin--like a plum. they tasted like grapes but.....

anyway, thank God for the internet, cuz now i know what they call "italian grapes" in chinatown, is actually called scuppernog, after scuppernog, north carolina....nowhere near italy.

tibet or bust...

my trip to tibet is in 2 weeks. getting excited, but at the same time a little concerned about the whole altitude thing. the highest we'll be is 16,500 ft. (!) i don't think i've ever come close to being anywhere near that altitude. after going to the travel clinic i'm sufficiently warned/scared about altitude sickness....hopefully my body will adjust nicely, and behave, so i can enjoy the trip!

class....

the new school year has just begun. it'll be the largest class i've had to teach - all 9 graduate students.

it would seem that my parking woes are not over yet. i got out of the class ONE minute after my meter expired, and wouldn't you know it, there was a ticket on the car. #@$(%*^&*!

parking, part deux...

so that was a piece of cake. i'm fine free...in and out in 30 minutes, imagine that. too bad the rest of PPA is not as competent. i mean, where are they when you NEED them to be ruthless in giving tickets??? i spent a good 15 to 30 minutes the last few days looking for parking in my neighborhood....my street is parked with cars that don't "belong", and i want the parking nazis here!

okay, so i have a limited view of compassion and justice.

parking woes...

i have traffic court in the morning...exercising my given rights. i'm bringing down the meter nazis!